No one will escape my web.
Definition/Summary:
Large spider, hairy arachnids
- Nocturnal predators
- Insects are main prey
- Also target bigger game, including frogs, toads, and mice
- Tarantulas are burrowers and typically live in the ground.
Expanded:
- There are hundreds of tarantula species found in most of the world’s tropical, subtropical, and desert regions
- They vary in color and behavior according to their specific environments
- A tarantula doesn’t use a web to trap its prey, though it may spin a trip wire to signal an alert when something approaches its burrow
- They have been known to wrap there still living victims for consumption
- Some species typically reside in a silken “tube tent” and other species will line their burrows with silk to stabilize the burrow wall and facilitate climbing up and down
- Tarantulas grab with their legs, inject paralyzing venom, and then bite their prey with their fangs
- They secrete digestive enzymes to liquefy their victims’ bodies so that they can suck them up through their strawlike mouth openings